Concussions In the NFL
Concussions in The NFL
Concussions in the NFL have become much more prevalent, and the effects of these concussions appear to have become more severe, as this is a direct result of the development of player training systems. Over the past decade there has been vast improvements made in the training equipment and techniques used to train NFL players. This has inevitably resulted in players getting much stronger, faster, and bigger. Over the same period of time concussions have also systematically became more frequent as well. This has led many people to believe that there is some type of relationship between the improvements in player training and the increase of concussions over the course of a NFL season. The focus of the first paragraph of this essay will be on the overall increase of strength and size of players and how this relates to concussions. The second paragraph will focus on the amount of season and career ending concussion that have occurred this last season opposed to the amount before it. The third paragraph will focus on the studies, which have been conducted on past players that have showed they have some sort of brain damage, which has resulted from football related activity.
The overall strength and size increase is most obvious on the offensive and defensive lines. Consider this in the mid 1970’s Randy white starred at defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys. White weighed 257 pounds, he lined up across from centers weighing 240 or 250 pounds and guards who were considered huge if they weighed 265. Last year's Super Bowl featured defensive tackles B.J. Raji who weighs 337 pounds and Casey Hampton who weighs 330 pounds versus guards Chris Kemoeatu who weighs 344 pounds and Josh Sitton who weighs 318 pounds. To put it in perspective Randy White who played Defensive Tackle and weighed 257 pounds weighs almost 20 pounds less than Baltimore Ravens rookie outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw who weighs in at a whopping 271 pounds. Upshaw is
Concussions in the NFL have become much more prevalent, and the effects of these concussions appear to have become more severe, as this is a direct result of the development of player training systems. Over the past decade there has been vast improvements made in the training equipment and techniques used to train NFL players. This has inevitably resulted in players getting much stronger, faster, and bigger. Over the same period of time concussions have also systematically became more frequent as well. This has led many people to believe that there is some type of relationship between the improvements in player training and the increase of concussions over the course of a NFL season. The focus of the first paragraph of this essay will be on the overall increase of strength and size of players and how this relates to concussions. The second paragraph will focus on the amount of season and career ending concussion that have occurred this last season opposed to the amount before it. The third paragraph will focus on the studies, which have been conducted on past players that have showed they have some sort of brain damage, which has resulted from football related activity.
The overall strength and size increase is most obvious on the offensive and defensive lines. Consider this in the mid 1970’s Randy white starred at defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys. White weighed 257 pounds, he lined up across from centers weighing 240 or 250 pounds and guards who were considered huge if they weighed 265. Last year's Super Bowl featured defensive tackles B.J. Raji who weighs 337 pounds and Casey Hampton who weighs 330 pounds versus guards Chris Kemoeatu who weighs 344 pounds and Josh Sitton who weighs 318 pounds. To put it in perspective Randy White who played Defensive Tackle and weighed 257 pounds weighs almost 20 pounds less than Baltimore Ravens rookie outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw who weighs in at a whopping 271 pounds. Upshaw is